NSRCA Officers
Hear from Your NSRCA Officers President
Charlie Barrera 2627 Silver Shadow | Conroe, TX. 77304 936.404.0063 charliebarrera@consolidated.net Hello again, everyone. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I’m hoping that you’ve asked Santa for all those special pattern gifts. As this holiday season begins, let’s reflect on this past year. Of course, the biggest event of the year, which continues to this day, is the Corona virus pandemic. We’ve endured social distancing, mask wearing, washing hands for 20 seconds, and the effects this has had on our economy. States have slowly opened up, allowing restaurants and bars to reopen, only to close again as the spike in infections increased. Just this week, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals announced a vaccine that is 90% effective. We’re all hoping and praying that this will be approved by our health care professionals and finally have a solution to the disease. We’ve had many pattern contests cancel because of the pandemic. Those contests that remained on the schedule had minimal participation because of Covid. Our biggest disappointment was the cancelling of the Pattern NATS. This board deliberated for several board meetings, only to conclude that it was in the best interest of our members to not participate. However, in September,
through the leadership of Bill Pritchett and Matt Finley, the D4 Championships hosted the USA Team Trials. It was a big success. Besides providing the venue for the D4 Champions, the D4 Championships allowed a team to be selected to represent the USA at the 2021 World FAI F3A competition. Congratulations to the Team! There were 63 participants at the event. I attended the contest, which was held in Muncie, IN, and had the flavor of the Pattern NATS. I saw old friends that I see every year at the NATS and made new friends, too. Planning for next year’s NATS and the World competition has begun. The World’s will be held in Muncie, and the NATS will immediately follow. I’m hoping that you are making plans to attend both events. At our last board meeting, we agreed that a link and icon should be included on our web site promoting F3P flying. With the weather changing for the winter months, many pattern flyers resign to indoor flying, particularly in the northern climates. Sal Piu, our D1 DVP, has taken on this task of creating links on our web site for F3P flying. You might notice an article in the monthly KFactor about F3P. These articles are interesting, and I am amazed at the size and weight, or lack thereof, of these models. Sal informs me of the different classes of models: Sport Aerobatics, Competitive above 100 grams, and the Ultimate F3P international competitive class. Sport Aerobatics are flown for fun and enjoyment, flown in a “mixed crowd”, and lead toward precision aerobatics competition. Competitive above 100g generally include models around 100g in weight. The Ultimate F3P class are models flown at the international level, where models generally weigh between 40 to 70 grams, and are built up from extremely light-weight materials, motors, props, servos, etc. Forty to 70 grams? Imagine that. Models that weigh less than 3 ounces. Maybe you’ve seen the uTube videos of these models.They perform with such grace and agility, stopping/starting in midflight, reversing direction, spinning, and
with the delicacy of a falling leaf and the precision of our F3A models. They are so light in weight that air conditioning ducts must be either turned off or directed away from the performance area. Another area that I think should be promoted by the NSRCA and included on our web site is EDF ducted fan precision aerobatics. With the introduction of light and powerful electric motors, the EDF category of models has taken off, no pun intended, in popularity. I own two EDF jets – the Avanti S and a Motion RC T-33. Both are 80mm fan jets and fly very well. At recent contests in my district (before the pandemic), EDF competition was included in the venue. The maneuvers are simple and flight times only last about 3 minutes in duration.This short flight time is, of course, because of the high amperage draw of the motors. A typical 6s 4000mah battery flight time is about 4 minutes, with about a minute reserve. I would encourage you to investigate this new aspect of our sport. Here is the link to the EDF Jet aerobatic maneuvers: https://www.jetaerobatics.org/ uploads/1/4/9/3/14935512/2020_f3s_edf_ schedule_w_details_1.pdf. I have reported on precision aerobatics flying of these models in previous KFactor articles. I am soliciting to our membership a call for help. We do not have a Contest Director (CD) for the 2021 Pattern NATS. The event will be held from July 20-24, 2021, at the International Aeromodelling Center in Muncie, IN. It is well attended in past years, with contestants numbering to over 70. If you are interested or know someone that might be interested in CDing this event, please contact your respective DVP or email me directly and volunteer. Your help will be greatly appreciated. The date seems far away now, but time for planning this event hastens as we move into next year. I hope you have a special project in mind for the upcoming pattern season next year. One of the off-season projects that I have is to fully inspect my competition models and repair or replace worn parts that have endured the season. This inspection, repair, and replacement of parts include the
December 2020 K-Factor | 5
